TravelSMART funds £1m of community transport projects in Surrey

Surrey County Council have been using Participatory Budgeting to share £1m of funding between various communities in Surrey. The aim of the TravelSMART community funding is to make the county a better place for residents, by improving public transport, encouraging cycling and cutting carbon emissions.

Harris Vallianatos, Sustainable Transport Officer at Surrey County Council recently sent us this message:

"Just wanted to share my joy. We have now used PB to distribute over £1m in grants in Surrey for sustainable transport or economic related projects. Monitoring of the projects is in full swing and we are gathering loads of evidence to prove that these projects represent a more targeted and ‘better’ approach to transport planning".

Local community groups and organisations working in the area can apply for money to develop projects that will help deliver Travel SMART objectives. This directly involves local people in making decisions on the spending priorities for a defined public budget. Local residents and groups will have opportunities to discuss spending priorities, make spending proposals and vote on them.

This approach strengthens democracy and localism, builds stronger communities and empowers people, improves services and gets things happening. Surrey CC hold community events in each area so residents can have a say in how funds are spent. Local people know their area best and this puts them right at the heart of decision making.